The Cuban government was “irritated” to continue …

The Cuban government has said it has been “surprised” and “irritated” by the decision of the United States State Department to keep the island on the list of countries that do not cooperate in Washington’s counterterrorism efforts.. Cuba was re-added to the list of “State sponsors of terrorism” in January this year by former President Donald Trump. And although on the island, Democrat Joe Biden’s rise to power was expected to ease bilateral tensions and foster a new rapprochement, the White House has already said twice that changing its policy towards Cuba is not a priority on its agenda. Putting a country on the terrorism blacklist implies trade barriers and more sanctions, although all of these restrictions are already hanging over Cuba due to the blockade..

“The Biden government keeps Cuba on the list of countries that do not cooperate in the fight against terrorism,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez wrote on Twitter, adding: “The slander and application of Trump’s policies and his 243 blocking measures are surprising and irritated”.

In an official communication to the United States Federal Register, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has placed Cuba, along with Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela on his list of countries that “do not cooperate at all” in “counterterrorism efforts” with Washington. These countries do not have access to export licenses for defense articles and services and are also notified to the international community for their lack of cooperation with the United States.

Havana was included in this list in May 2020 by the administration of the then president Donald trump (2017-2021), which in January this year also Cuba returned to the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, one of the latest decisions taken by the ruling Republican president. The United States justified the decision by referring to the presence on the island of members of the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), who traveled to Havana (where they still are) in 2017 to start now-stalled peace talks with the Colombian government.

Colombian President Iván Duque has repeatedly asked Cuba for the extradition of members of the negotiating delegation, which Cuba rejects, believing that this would violate the precepts of international law on which the protocols of the peace dialogue are based.

The island was removed from the list in 2015, during the rapprochement phase promoted by then US President Barack Obama. (2009-2017) and arrested by Trump, who stepped up sanctions on Havana and halted the “thaw,” pushing an already exhausted Cuban economy to the brink of collapse. During his tenure, Trump punished transportation, tourism and remittances, banning business with a long “blacklist” of companies linked to the Cuban military., crippled consular services after mysterious health problems suffered by US diplomats and said goodbye, putting Cuba back on the list of terrorist sponsors.

The return of the Caribbean country to the list, now ratified by a Democratic government, has engendered an international rejection like that of the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who He said he trusted President Joe Biden to reverse the measure. And in the same vein, this Tuesday the English NGO Oxfam He recommended that Biden take steps to normalize relations with Cuba.

Oxfam’s representative on the island, Elena Gentili, told reporters that Biden can reverse Trump’s measures and “work with Congress to achieve final lifting of blockade”. Oxfam has spoken out since 2016 against “this policy which limits the full enjoyment of Cubans’ rights,” Gentili added, referring to the Economic embargo in effect since 1962 and codified in the Helms-Burton Act in 1996.

During his campaign, Biden has promised to quash the nearly 250 sanctions imposed by Trump against Cuba, but so far that has not happened. According to the calculations of the Cuban government the effects of this embargo were recorded last year at 5.5 billion dollars.